Plastic Pollution in Trinidad and Tobago

Dr Anjani Ganase recaps the finding of Ritchie and Roser’s Report (2018) on Plastic Pollution, and discusses the relevance to Trinidad and Tobago. While errors in previous reports have inflated the amount of plastic pollution attributed to TT, the total amounts for the Caribbean and the world, are still startling. We have to stop using; and to clean up what we have used in the past.

Since the advent of plastics in the 1950s, global plastic generation has increased exponentially over the last 65 years. In 2015, the world generated more than twice the amount of plastics (381 million tonnes) that it had in 1995 (156 million tonnes); and cumulatively we’ve produced over 7.8 billion tonnes of plastic, roughly more than a tonne of plastic for every person alive on the planet today. 

However, the sources of the plastic waste are not distributed evenly. China produces the most plastic waste in the world, and is responsible for much of the pollution in marine environments. While places such as Europe and USA also generate a lot of plastic waste, these countries also invested better management of the waste to prevent pollution. 

In Tobago and Trinidad, we get our garbage removed from our surroundings continuously, and so, very few of us think about what happens to the plastic bottle, the plastic wrapping and cardboard after they are used; and we rarely think about the true timelines of the products we use. The disposal of our waste is a luxury that most of us have experienced all our lives and many of us never question. Now, we are producing more waste than ever; we are running out of space for garbage; and severely damaging the environment. The impacts of plastic waste are long-lasting and affect ecosystems and species. Plastics may fragment but they do not degrade persisting in ecosystems for many years. Of the plastic waste generated, 55 % of it gets deposited into landfill, 25 % gets incinerated and only 19 % of the waste is recycled (2015). Bearing in mind that recycling only allows the plastic to be reused once or twice, much of the recycled plastics also end up in landfills. How much of our plastic waste actually ends up in landfill? How much is disposed of irresponsibly or littered? 

How much plastic pollution does Trinidad and Tobago produce ? 

While Trinidad and Tobago is a small island nation (5,131 km²) in the Caribbean with a population of 1.3 million, it is one of the larger, more populated and affluent nations. Let’s see how we compare with our neighbours. One of the smaller nations in the Caribbean is Antigua-Barbuda with a population of only 102,012 and an area of 440 km2 producing 22,804 tonnes of plastic waste a year. Jamaica has a population of 2.9 million people on an island that is about 11,000 km² in size; and produces about 35,000 tonnes of plastic waste a year. However, despite being half the size of Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago produces annually nearly 200,000 tonnes in plastic (about 25 % of our total waste); each Trinbagonian accounts for about 0.154 tonnes per year. That’s about five times more than what Jamaica produces (~ 35,000 tonnes per year), and nearly ten times more than Antigua and Barbuda (22,804 tonnes). 

Plastic waste mismanagement refers to plastic garbage that is not properly disposed of after collection; for example if the waste goes to an open dump or is not transported securely. In these instances, a lot of the waste escapes into the environment. For islands and coastal cities, this means that the escaped plastics will enter directly into the oceans or be carried out to sea from rivers. Of the plastic waste being produced, how much is being properly managed in disposal or recycling? The studies find that while Trinidad and Tobago may be high generators of plastic waste, we do a better job in the management of plastic disposal and only 3 % of our plastic waste is mismanaged (~16,000 tonnes) compared to the 27 % in Jamaica (~25,000 tonnes) and 6 % in Antigua and Barbuda (2,500 tonnes).

Plastic waste tallies do not include "littering" such as what is not collected from beaches, Manzanilla in this photo. 

Unfortunately, the assessment of mismanaged plastic waste is based on what is actively collected by solid waste management services and does not include littering, which is the intentional disposal of waste in an inappropriate manner. The study shows that littering in coastal areas of Trinidad and Tobago is nearly six times higher than Jamaica, and more than ten times that of Antigua and Barbuda. Suffice to say, we are litterbugs, reckless with the disposal of our plastic waste.

So what does our plastic pollution contribute to the global scale?

While the global contribution to plastic waste from the Caribbean islands is minor - Trinidad and Tobago produces 0.3 % of the global waste, Jamaica only 0.03 %, and Antigua and Barbuda, less than 0.01 % of the global mismanaged plastic waste - the average Caribbean individual’s daily contribution is among the highest in the world, nearly 5 kg of waste per person per day. In Trinidad and Tobago the average daily contribution per capita (1.59 kg) is lower than the average, and in Jamaica, lower still (0.18 kg per person per day). 

While high-income countries such USA and European countries generate a lot of plastic waste, they have organised into their infrastructure the modes for proper plastic disposal and management of waste. Low income countries may produce a lot less, but they also suffer from inadequate infrastructure to dispose or recycle plastics.. Trinidad and Tobago and other Caribbean islands actually have middle to high income economies, where there are enough resources to generate a lot plastic waste, namely through the importation of packaged food and goods. However, the infrastructure for proper plastic use and waste management - plastic disposal and recycling – may be lacking, and still need to be invested in.. 

Unfortunately, island nations are also the most at risk of being impacted by plastic pollution, since our plastic waste is likely to “escape” offshore where it will entangle, smother and be ingested by marine life, endangering the ocean resources that small islands rely on for food and revenue. There is an urgent need to reduce our plastic consumption and understand the true economic and ecological prices of our purchases. It is estimated that about 8 million tonnes of plastic enters the oceans every year. The accumulation of plastics results in the giant garbage patches that collect in the gyres of each ocean basin. The largest is the Great Pacific Garbage patch in the north Pacific, which is approximately the size of Alaska, while the north Atlantic has the fourth largest patch. The majority of that plastic waste originated from land. By far, the majority of the plastic waste is from single-use packaging plastic (141 million tonnes), disposed soon after it is produced.

The key to reducing plastic in the environment therefore, seems to be – not re-using nor recycling – but simply refusing plastic in our purchases. Can we go “cold turkey” on our plastic addiction? Or do we need to be weaned off in stages? How can we reduce our plastic waste at the same time that we take a closer look into plastic pollution in Trinidad and Tobago? In our next look at Plastic Pollution, Dr La Daana Kanhai from the University of the West Indies, offers insights and strategies. 

Plastic waste generated in 2015, by sector 

References:

Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser (2019) - "Plastic Pollution". Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: 'https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution' [Online Resource]. 

Hoornweg D, Bhada-Tata P. (2012) What a waste: a global review of solid waste management. World Bank, Washington, DC.